Daniel Geary was born on September 12,
1986, the son of Michael Geary, machine foreman, and Agnes Geary, machine operator, in Rome, New York. Daniel was the fourth of seven chil-dren. When he was eight, he smelled smoke and pulled his four-year-old sister from a room that was engulfed in flames.
As a teenager, Geary enjoyed paint-ball, working on his Chevy Sebring, and bowling. At sixteen, he bowled his first perfect game. He attended Rome Free Academy, a public high school, but dropped out a few weeks before graduation. For a time, he was unsure of what to do with his life. He landed a job at the Turning Stone Casinoin Rome, owned by the Oneida Indians. Several months later, however, he resolved to get his diploma."I was never more proud of him,"his mother recalled. In 2006 he returned to school, joined the officer training program, and decided on a career in the military. In June, shortly before receiving his diploma, he enlisted in the Marines and soon subscribed to its motto wholeheartedly: semper fidelis (always faithful).
In September, Geary reported to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he met his fiancee. In November, 2008, after a tour of duty on a ship in the Indian Ocean, he was sent to Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was impressed by the mountains that towered above ancient valleys."Other than people trying to shoot me and blow me up," he told his mother,"you can't believe how beautiful it is over here."
On March 19,2009, he was part of a team of Marines that caught an enemy bomber near a police station. The next day the team returned to the station to encourage the local police to work harder to capture insurgents. While the others were meeting inside, Geary stood guard, manning a machine gun in a Humvee. Then a car with police markings came through the gate, approached the Humvee and blew up, killing Geary instantly.
World History
